By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi When Marilyn Jansen Lopes and her husband, Ricky, bought a used eight-passenger van at an auction in 2009, they intended to use it as an RV for camping and cruising. Little did they know it would inspire a business that draws people from all over the world.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Lea Uehara doesn't sing, dance or play an instrument. But she does love music, and she knows Hawaii's dynamic music industry inside out.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Through her writing assignments, Marta Lane befriended many movers and shakers in Kauai's food industry. A Taste of Old Kauai is the result of one of the valuable relationships Lane has fostered.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Hawaii residents love Spam. In fact, we eat nearly 7 million cans of the versatile luncheon meat every year — more than any other state in America.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi When Xorin Balbes first saw the century-old Fred C. Baldwin Memorial Home in 2010, it exuded the sadness and despair of a neglected elder. Termites and dry rot had badly damaged its five wooden buildings. Its plumbing and septic tanks were corroding, and there were only a few trees on its 6-acre Upcountry Maui site.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Tonia Moy loves buildings — not just because she's an architect and architects should love buildings in much the same way veterinarians should love animals and couturiers should love clothes.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Mike Dailey has broken his collarbone and a foot playing polo. He's also cracked and bruised a few ribs, has had wounds that required stitches and has suffered four concussions, one of which left him in a coma for five days.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi One of the leaders in Hawaii's coffee industry didn't drink his first cup of java until he was 40 years old. In 1993, Waiele Drilling, a for-profit subsidiary of Bishop Estate (now Kame­ha­meha Schools), lured Bateman, a mechanical engineer, from Newport Beach, Calif., to Hawaii island.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Suspension bridges. Aerial walkways. Rivers and rain forests bordered by a 2,500-foot-high mountain range. The setting for Outfitters Kauai's Zipline Trek Nui Nui Loa seems like it was pulled from "Swiss Family Robinson"; it's a spectacular playground for adventurers.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi On the last day of the 2012 Celebration of the Arts, Clifford Nae­ole stood quietly watching the activity at the Ritz-Carlton, Kapa­lua's front desk. Checking in were new arrivals who had no idea they had just missed one of Hawaii's premier cultural events.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi When Farsheed Bonakdar was a young boy growing up in Iran, he spent whatever pin money he had on his favorite treat: "dark kiss," a dome-shaped confection with a filling akin to whipped cream.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Pete Fisher, owner and founder of Kayak Wai­lua, is serious when he says his hiking and kayaking tour along the Wai­lua River is suitable for just about everyone.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi No boardroom, no PowerPoint presentations, no catered lunch. Executives of a Waikiki hotel found their professional development meeting at Heeia Fishpond to be a big change from the norm.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Partially obscured by shrubs along Keauhou Bay, the treasures of Sheraton Kona Resort & Spa had been overlooked for decades. Long forgotten, too, were their stories.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Tomas Havranek's introduction to the Segway PT (Personal Transporter) seven years ago was love at first glide. "When my wife, Andrea, and I first tried riding it at a park, we thought it was one of the coolest things we had ever done," he said.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi In the waning hours of daylight, mist gently wraps around the forested hills of Ahualoa on Hawaii island like an ethereal shawl. Thus came the inspiration for the name of Carol Salisbury Culbertson's inn in that rural district above Honokaa town: Waianuhea, meaning "cool soft fragrance."
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi When Eve Hogan and her husband, Steve, purchased their 3.8-acre Upcountry Maui property in 2005, they had no idea it would one day be a mecca for visitors seeking peace, rejuvenation and inspiration.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi The elderly couple wasn't going to let age keep them from the most exciting adventure of their lives. They put on sturdy walking shoes, donned helmets and harnesses, and zipped for the first time with Skyline Eco-Adventures Akaka Falls on Hawaii island.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi From October through February in olden Hawaii, war was kapu (forbidden), all work halted and the people's attention turned instead to games, sports, feasting, dancing and religious ceremonies honoring Lono, the god of agriculture.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi On a sunny day, high atop a hill in North Kohala on Hawaii island, Christie Cash and her husband, Jay Nelson, surveyed a lot they were thinking of buying. They wound up being more taken with the 33-acre parcel next to it, which was once part of a large spread known as Pua­kea Ranch.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi On New Year's Day 2010, while sailing off Kawaihae on Hawaii Island, Tania Howard and several friends spotted a humpback and her calf a quarter-mile away. Shutting off the Maile's engine, they decided to wait and see what the whales would do.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi In the devastating aftermath of 9-11, Blake Kolona found himself struggling to keep his painting and contracting business afloat, eventually facing bankruptcy. Concerned about the future, he hiked deep into Makaha and discovered a new passion.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi As a high school teen in Northern California, Ted Henry remembers walking down the aisles in the liquor section of neighborhood grocery stores, admiring the labels on wine bottles and reading all the information that was on them.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi When Glynnis Nakai says Maui's Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge is for the birds, she means it in a good way.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Felicita Garrido and her husband, Steven Bolosan, moved to Na Mea Kupono, their 6-acre Wai­alua farm, in 2008, and started offering educational visits two years later. In addition to taro, numerous other native and introduced plants thrive at Na Mea Kupono.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi In 1720, renowned Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari built the “perfect violin,” so called because of its superb craftsmanship and sound quality. Shortly thereafter the instrument — dubbed the “Red Violin” because of its rich color — went missing, its whereabouts unknown for more than 200 years.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Longtime wine enthusiasts Bud Pikrone and his wife, Diane, remember throwing wine-tasting parties in the 1970s when most of their friends were drinking Mad Dog.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park sprawls over more than 330,000 acres in southeastern Hawaii island. The park was established as a national park on Aug. 1, 1916 and is best known for its two active volcanoes: Mauna Loa and Kilauea.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi For centuries, rum has been associated with tales of adventure, romance and intrigue. The rum-loving pirate Blackbeard terrorized ships around the West Indies and eastern coast of the American colonies between 1716 and 1718.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Ghosts, ghouls, goblins, graveyards -- it's Halloween season, when we have fun screaming, shuddering and getting scared out of our wits. Here are four spine-tingling options.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Jean-Claude Van Damme is in love with Sandra Bullock, but she isn't interested in romance. She's completely focused on work. Shania Twain hates to sweat. Whenever her face gets hot and sticky, she'll bend down and wipe it on the feet of the closest bystander.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi WISPS of smoke rise from the cigar in the ashtray on Bruce Mayes' desk, the pungent odor blending with the aroma of strong coffee. On a wooden Philco radio, Frank Sinatra croons "As Time Goes By" — his soothing voice muting the persistent staccato of a teletype machine in the adjoining room.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi IN 2005, Raiatea Helm took the stage with "Auntie" Genoa Keawe for a duet that many regard as one of the Windward Hoolaulea's all-time highlights.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Every Saturday morning, Marc Ino­uye rises before the sun does, so he can get to Oahu’s eastern coast — anywhere between Maka­puu and Kua­loa — by dawn, when fish are more apt to bite. Within the hour he and a friend are setting up their lines on shore.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Katie Molzer has ridden elephants in Thailand, hiked the Franz Josef Glacier in New Zealand, held sloths and caimans in Brazil and gone scuba diving among giant clams and white-tip reef sharks along the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Laurelee Blanchard established the nonprofit sanctuary on Maui in March 2008 to provide care and shelter for rescued farm animals and educational opportunities for the community. It's named after its first donkey, which died that year.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Early Saturday morning, a line of about 140 outrigger canoes stretching a half-mile will form in Kailua Bay for the first competition of the annual Queen Lili‘u­oka­lani Outrigger Canoe Races.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi When Anthony Luat's creative juices start flowing, he doesn't reach for a paintbrush or clay. He brews espresso and steams milk. Luat, the 21-year-old head barista trainer for Hono­lulu Coffee, placed first in the Latte Art Competition at last year's inaugural Art of Hawaiian Coffee event, sponsored by DFS Galleria Waikiki.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Waipoli Hydroponic Greens grows watercress and eight varieties of lettuce on six scenic acres at the 3,500-foot-elevation of Hale­akala. Thirteen employees harvest greens three days a week and clean and plant three days a week year-round.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Many people go the beach with sand chairs and bodyboards. Whenever he heads makai, Jeff Peterson is loaded down with shovels, buckets and a bag full of tools.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi The gentleman wanted his proposal to be something his girlfriend would always remember. A private horseback ride along a quiet mountain trail would set the right mood, he thought, so he called Gunstock Ranch to make the arrangements.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi During winter, 100 mph winds have shredded shrubs, uprooted trees, snapped thick branches and sheared the tops off palms in Kawaihae, the coastal community in the northwestern district of Hawaii island.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi THE mother and her baby were curious about the strange tubular creature they saw gliding underwater off the coast of Lahaina. They swam to within 20 feet of it — so close Jim Walsh could see their dark oval eyes. "Of course, following the law, I held our position as soon as I saw the humpback whales," said Walsh.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi 1931. The Great Depression. Stocks were plummeting, unemployment numbers were soaring, thousands of businesses were failing and millions of people were homeless. Across America, shanty villages were sprouting up around cities, and lines at soup kitchens were stretching for blocks. But there were bright moments even during those dismal times.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Two men and their girlfriends are dashing around Chinatown in search of a famous Chinese doctor. To prove they've found him, they've been instructed to take a photo of them hugging him. He's an old man, they've been told, so they should be gentle.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Twice a day, five days a week, Potter deftly picks and cuts pineapples in the fields for visitors to sample. He's now the guide for the Maui Pineapple Tour, which was launched in March 2011 by Maui Gold Pineapple Co.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi IN 1971, soon after earning her Bachelor of Music degree from Oberlin College's renowned Conservatory of Music, Marsha Schweitzer accepted a job with the Ho­no­lulu Symphony. She planned to stay in Hawaii a few years, then move on.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi As legend goes, Kamohoalii, the Hawaiian shark god, enjoyed relaxing in the deep waters around Maui. Mists often hovered above the ocean there, obscuring views of land and disorienting fleets of fishing canoes.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi In the climactic scene of the movie "Battleship," the 68-year-old USS Missouri returns to service in a last-ditch effort to save Earth from alien invaders. For the past 13 years, the Mighty Mo, as the Missouri is affectionately known, has been moored at Pier F5 in Pearl Harbor as a floating museum called the Battleship Missouri Memorial.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi The afternoon before the Quick Draw, the final event of last year's inaugural Kauai Plein Air Invitational, Oahu artist Susie Anderson and her husband drove to the Kala­lau Lookout, a scenic spot they hadn't visited in 30 years.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi ASK Cheryl Vasconcellos what she most enjoys about her job as the executive director of Hana Health, and there's no doubt pruning, planting and harvesting will be on her list. That's because in addition to her administrative, financial, personnel, marketing, public relations and strategic planning responsibilities for East Maui's only medical facility, she loves to work in the fields of Hana Fresh, its 7-acre certified organic farm.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi While on an all-day hike deep in Molokai's Halawa Valley five years ago, the popular Hawaiian folk singer and musician known simply as Lono ran across a friend, Lawrence Aki, who was guiding a group of visitors on the trail.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi After seeing dramatic news coverage of the 1990 lava flow that destroyed most of the town of Kala­pana in Hawaii island's Puna district, Wai­lana Simcock felt compelled to go there. Then 16 years old and living on Oahu, he was mesmerized by that undeniable display of nature's power.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Even before Lanai Grand Adventures guide Cody Bradford hits the Munro Trail with a group, the clouds captivate him.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi When Marnie Weeks first came to Hawaii as a 14-year-old visitor in 1961, Hawaiian music and hula in Waikiki were as ubiquitous as palm trees. Entranced, she bought several Hawaiian music records and took them home to Michigan with her.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi During the dark days of World War II, weekend jam sessions were bright times for Henry Kaleialoha Allen's family. Friends and relatives would pack their Manoa home to eat, "talk story," sing and play music until the wee hours of the morning, including Albert Merseburgh, Allen's uncle, who was a renowned steel guitar artist.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi A few of us were jamming around the campfire around 2 a.m. We’d been at it for hours, and it seemed we had played every song that we knew. I expected we’d all be headed to our tents fairly soon.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Bluegrass traces its roots to the traditional ballads and lively jigs and reels of English, Scottish and Irish immigrants who settled in the rural Appalachia area of the United States (southern New York to northern Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia) in the 18th century. Influenced by African-American blues and jazz, it is played on acoustic (unamplified) string instruments, including the fiddle, banjo, guitar, mandolin and upright bass. Musicians take turns playing and improvising the melody, while the rest of the group provides accompaniment.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Waialua residents will be the first to admit their town is not a happening place; the biggest event of the week might be an exhibit of local art at the public library. But that's precisely why Kyoko Johnson and her husband, Tor, decided to live and work there.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Clifford Naeole's life-changing story begins in the kalo loi (taro patches) of his paternal grandfather, whom he lovingly nicknamed "Granddaddy Mauka."
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi For 70 years, from 1922 to 1992, pineapple was the economic backbone of Lanai. At the peak of production, from the 1950s to the 1970s, the island gained renown as the largest pineapple plantation in the world.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Start with a Segway Personal Transporter — that ūber-cool, two-wheeled "people mover." Blend in the beautiful rain forest, waterfalls, streams, plants and flowers of Botanical World Adventures on Hawaii island's lush Hamakua Coast.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi When Janet Leopold moved to Kauai from Los Angeles in 1988, she knew it was also time to make a big career change. She had worked in the corporate world for 16 years; in her new island home, she wanted to do something she was passionate about.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi When Jeff Living-ston went home for the very first time, a Lionel train set was waiting for him — a “welcome” gift for the newborn baby from his proud father. Over the years, Livingston’s parents, relatives and family friends augmented his collection, and as that grew, so did his interest in trains.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Ben Dillingham, founder of Oahu Railway & Land Co., built Parlor Car No. 64 in 1900 for his personal use. With a price tag of nearly $4,400, it was the company’s showpiece. Fluted awnings and ornate iron grillwork adorned the double-size rear observation platform. The interior was constructed of gleaming oak, mahogany and bird’s-eye maple.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi In February 2006 members of Malama Hawaii Nei gathered at Laupahoehoe Point Beach Park to help set up for the inaugural Laupahoehoe Music Festival.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi The theme of this year's eighth annual Kauai Wellness expo is "Malama Kou Kino" (Take Care of Your Body). Attendees will learn about fitness, nutrition, organic food and gardening and healing therapies from cultures including Hawaiian, Ayurvedic, Chinese and African.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi To the blind man immersed in an otherwise silent undersea world, the sounds were like castanets in a lively paso doble.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Many great ideas have blossomed from a little brainstorming. The Hanohano o Kona (Honoring Kona) lecture series is one of them.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Theo Morrison's parents grew up in Los Angeles during the Great Depression, unable to realize many of their dreams because of the harsh economic realities of the time.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Emanuela "Manu" Vinciguerra enjoyed organic and whole foods long before eating healthy was hip. The sales and marketing director for Kumu Farms on Molokai was born and raised in the town of Chieti in Abruzzo, a beautiful region in Italy between the Adriatic Sea and the Apennine Mountains about 123 miles east of Rome.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Lyman House Museum in Hilo declined to take the donation. So did the Kona Historical Society on the other side of Hawaii island.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Growing up next to Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay in the 1970s, Brad Hayes heard Phantoms, Skyhawks, Sea Stallions and Sea Knights flying overhead throughout the day and night, but he didn't mind. He has been an avid student of aviation history for 35 years.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Mike Carroll's favorite place to paint is on Lanai Avenue, just 30 yards from his eponymous art gallery in Lanai City.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi For 20 years during the holiday season, "Auntie" Josie Chansky's home in Kapaa was one of the biggest attractions on Kauai.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Nick Fidelibus likens wreck diving to a treasure hunt. "It's thrilling, it's fascinating, it's mysterious," he said. "Seeing a plane or ship underwater makes you want to learn more about it.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi In the late 1970s, Maui whale activist Greg Kaufman would round up two dozen volunteers to put on annual festivities at Kalama Park in Kihei in honor of Hawaii's most famous winter visitors, the humpback whales.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Kumu Keala Ching hopes kamaaina and visitors will gather at Hawaii island's Makahiki and Healing Garden Festival in the same spirit of peace, gratitude and enjoyment.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Kirk Hendricks, owner of Honolulu Pedicab, describes himself as a "rolling concierge.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi The Hawaiian word "ahonui" means "patience" — a fitting name for the spectacular botanical gardens that Jason Robertson and his family have painstakingly sculpted over the past decade out of a once nearly impenetrable jungle.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Conditions were ideal that September 1998 morning, about a mile and a half off the southern shore of Molokai.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Kapeneta “Kap” Suli Teo-Tafiti can scoot up a 40-foot coconut tree in less than 20 seconds — pretty amazing for a 44-year-old guy who has the build of an NFL linebacker.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi After 20 years touring the world as professional dancers and patrons of the arts, Richard Koob and his longtime companion, Earnest Morgan, decided to forgo their hectic lifestyle and settle in rural Puna, along the southeast coast of Hawaii island.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Like most malihini (newcomers) from the mainland, Craig Elevitch grew up eating bread, pasta, potatoes and rice.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi At 5-feet-9-inches tall and 150 pounds, Ed Sugimoto is not a big guy, but he's a heavyweight when it comes to rice. The wireless manager for Oceanic Time Warner Cable is crazy about the ubiquitous starch.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Every artist has a special muse. Cynthia Riedel's was an elderly impressionist named Leonard Herbert. During his final years, Herbert's infirmities kept him confined to his Lihue condo most of the time, away from the natural beauty of Kauai that he loved.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi Tall, tanned and toned, Duke Paoa Kahanamoku was the king of ocean sports in Hawaii. Swimming, surfing, paddling — he excelled at them all and more, and had the awards (including five Olympic medals) to prove it.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi In a quiet corner of Maui Nui Botanical Gardens, set in a grove of kukui trees, is a bench dedicated to the late Rene Sylva, a renowned local conservationist. The view from the bench looks into lush Iao Valley, past the garden's most mature collection of native greenery.
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi You could say the Kauai County Farm Bureau Fair was Frank Sinatra's lucky charm. In 1952 the legendary crooner hit rock bottom. The movie "Meet Danny Wilson," in which he played the lead, bombed at the box office.